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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28075833">I'll See You Thursday</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyHeart/pseuds/JoyHeart'>JoyHeart</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dungeons and Daddies (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU where faerun never happened and the dads didnt meet, Coffee Shop, Double Date, F/F, F/M, First Date, M/M, Polyamory</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:08:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,979</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28075833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyHeart/pseuds/JoyHeart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mercedes has a new girlfriend, and her husband is feeling lonely when she goes out on her Thursday date nights. But of course there's a natural solution, Henry should try to find someone to occupy his Thursdays while his wife is away. So Henry downloads a 'dating' app and is happy to announce that he managed to find someone special.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Henry Oak/Darryl Wilson, Henry Oak/Mercedes Oak-Garcia, Mercedes Oak-Garcia/Carol Wilson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I'll See You Thursday</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Fulfilling a prompt from my discord for a double date at a coffee shop between Henry and Darryl, and Carol and Mercedes. I... had some trouble with it. But I did my best and here is what I came up with.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>I’ll See You Thursday</strong>
</p><p>            Henry Oak and Mercedes Oak-Garcia were very happy with their relationship. They had been married for fifteen wonderful years, were the parents of two beautiful twin boys, and had three marvellously scheduled sessions of passionate sex a week while said beautiful boys were out at soccer practice or anime club, or The Green Teens of San Dimas Youth Group meetings.</p><p>            They were very much in love, and very satisfied with one another, of course. They both trusted and cared for each other, and so when Mercedes had admitted to Henry one night that she had met a lady at work who had peaked her interest, Henry had absolutely no qualms about giving his blessing toward his wife asking the woman on a date. When Mercedes had come home the following day practically floating as she announced not only had the woman accepted, but she had done so ‘with a bigger smile than she had ever seen before’, Henry revelled in his wife’s happiness and listened as she described every detail with the same gusto and lust for life that she did everything.</p><p>            Mercedes and this new woman began dating and Henry learned her name, Carol. Carol was apparently divorced as of two years ago, and didn’t like to speak on it much beyond saying she and her husband ‘lacked something’ in their relationship. A sad thought, but it left Mercedes unsure if Carol would feel comfortable meeting with Henry. She knew, of course, that Mercedes had a husband. She had been very forthcoming about that, and about how Henry was comfortable with her pursuing polyamorous relationships with other people she was attracted to. But according to Mercedes, Carol seemed very uneasy when she spoke at length about Henry, and she was afraid if she introduced her to Henry too soon it might feel as though she was trying to push her into also dating Henry, and that wasn’t the impression she wanted to leave.</p><p>            Henry understood, of course. He and Mercedes never ended a conversation when one still didn’t understand the other’s position. But it did mean that, well, one of their scheduled sessions was off the table as it became Carol and Mercedes’ date night, and although Henry was trying to take up soap-carving to fill the void, no number of awkwardly-shaped soap teddy-bears could fill the void Mercedes left on those lonely Thursday afternoons.</p><p>            Mercedes, the loving and attentive wife that she was, noticed Henry’s down mood as she was dressing up for her weekly date with Carol. As she put her grandmother’s pearl earrings in her ears, Henry sat on their bed, looking glumly at the unshorn soap in his hands. </p><p>            “<em>Mi Leόn</em>, you look as though you have a thorn in your paw. What is troubling you, my love?” Mercedes asked, gathering her ankle-length hemp skirt in front of her to sit beside her husband and put a comforting arm around his shoulders.</p><p>            Henry sighed and leaned into his wife without hesitation. “My lioness… I’m happy you found someone else you have come to care for as much as Carol. And I understand why you aren’t ready to bring her home with you yet, I really do. I just… well gosh darn it, I just miss having you around Thursday nights is all! It’s kind of sad knowing I’m here all alone and you’re out there having extremely consensual and fulfilling sex with Carol while I’m just waiting for you to come home. And it’s not the sex I have a problem with, but just… I miss spending time with you on Thursday afternoons. There, I said it.”</p><p>            “What about your soaps?”</p><p>            “Oh Mercedes, I’ve always hated soap, you know that.”</p><p>            Mercedes did know that. Just as she knew that sometimes with Henry, you had to gently point out the obvious to him. “My love, I do not mean to be forward or push you into anything you may not feel comfortable with but… have you thought about finding someone <em>else</em> to fill your Thursday nights with?”</p><p>            Henry looked at Mercedes with a dumbfounded expression. Mercedes bit her lip and huffed out a laugh.</p><p>            “You hadn’t even thought about it, had you? My darling Henry, if I’m dating Carol, surely you know you can go looking for someone else as well? Boy, girl, neither, both? Although, of course, you could also just look for a friend to spend your time with, too. You don’t have to just wait for me to get home, although I love your devotion.”</p><p>            “I… you’re right. Of course you’re right. Wow, that sure was- geez whiz, okay. Wow. Huh.” Henry stood up abruptly and began pacing the floor. “You know what? I never even thought about it before, but you’ve mentioned it and now I’m wondering. How do people meet other people these days? Apps, right? Internet? That sounds right, right? Should I make a dating profile? What should I put in my dating profile?”</p><p>            Mercedes checked her watch and grit her teeth. “Henry, I would be happy to help you with that later but Carol is waiting.” She stood and pecked her husband firmly on the mouth. “And for the record, we don’t have sex <em>every</em> Thursday. Tonight Carol said she wants to watch Primer with me. I’ve never seen it but she assures me it’s her favourite movie. And Carol never wants to be distracted when watching her sci-fi, I’ve told you that.”</p><p>            “Oh, that’s right. Well, have fun anyway!” Henry waved, his phone already in his hand as he pulled up the app store in search of dating apps. Huh, Tinder, OKcupid, Grindr… Grindr sounded fun! Maybe for people who liked grinding their own coffee? Henry liked coffee and that sounded very wholesome!</p><p>            So Henry happily started downloading Grindr as Mercedes went out the front door, and spent the next hour trying to take a good selfie with one of his soap carvings. Once that was added to his profile along with a short list of important information about himself (vegan, married father, pacifist, rock-lover), along with a shorter list of what he was looking for (Thursday afternoon adventures, friends or something more ;) ) (he was especially proud of correctly using a winky face). Once his profile was set up, he happily headed into a search of other profiles.</p><p>            “Uh oh,” Henry said quietly as he scrolled by bare torso after bare torso. Apparently most of the men on this dating app (and he quickly realised this was strictly a men seeking men app but that didn’t bother him so much) did not want to show their faces. On top of that, if the first flurry of messages he received was any indication, it seemed that the Grindr app was meant for a very particular sort of activity seeking.</p><p>            Not that there was anything wrong with a casual hook up, but that simply wasn’t the way Henry was looking to spend his Thursday afternoons. Well, he wouldn’t mind if it was part of it but… no.</p><p>            However, just as Henry was ready to delete his profile and scrub the app from his phone, another message dinged to life in the corner of his phone screen. Someone named Darryl. Well, it couldn’t hurt just to check, but if this one didn’t have a face attached to it, that was it.</p><p>            Henry opened the app again, and paused with his thumb hovering over the screen. Darryl had a face. A wonderful, round face with a button nose, brown eyes, a big beard with curly hair, and a baseball cap shoved over his head. The photo looked to have been cropped from some kind of sports game, and, well, Henry had to admit, the guy was <em>definitely</em> what he’d consider his type…</p><p>            The message he received was pretty simple, just ‘<em>Hi! I’m Darryl! Good to see someone else around here that has a head!’</em></p><p>            Henry laughed out loud, falling back onto his bed and typing out a response. Alright, maybe he could keep his profile a little longer.</p><p>            Talking to Darryl Wilson on Grindr was a funny experience. At first, Henry was sure he must’ve been flirting, but then after checking the man’s profile Henry realised that Darryl hadn’t even realised Grindr was a dating app (or a hook up app, as Henry was discovering). The man admitted he had joined it because his son had recently come out to him, and Darryl had heard a lot of gay men were on Grindr, so he was trying to ‘do some research’ to better understand where his son was coming from.</p><p>            Henry had to admit, although some of what Darryl said kind of made him bristle at the alpha-male overtones (honest, there was more to life than football, beer, and meat as his profile had declared), knowing that he was just trying to be a good dad filled Henry with a warm fondness that he really wanted to pursue.</p><p>            Very quickly, Henry began explaining to Darryl the nuances of sexual attraction, how he and his wife were both very open with matters like that and encouraged their kids to be accepting. He even offered Darryl links to websites and Youtube videos about gender and sexuality theory. Eventually Henry offered to add Darryl to his Facebook friends list in case he found more materials (he was definitely not keeping this Grindr profile, he’d started getting dick pics now and Henry wasn’t exactly keen on staring at disembodied… anything), and Darryl had agreed.</p><p>            Henry had spent so much attention on talking with Darryl, he didn’t notice Lark and Sparrow come home early and they managed to sneak up on him.</p><p>            Well, there were worse things than getting a dirt clod playfully mashed into his scalp.</p><p>*</p><p>            By the time the next Thursday afternoon rolled around Henry had a date, and Mercedes was thrilled for him.</p><p>Although, maybe date wasn’t exactly the right word for it. Henry had asked Darryl if he wanted to go to the Rainbow Parents group he was a part of on Monday (neither Lark nor Sparrow had come out yet but if they ever did, Henry wanted to be prepared and you know, they had great, vegan snacks after), and Darryl had agreed, and they said they might grab a coffee after. Darryl had seemed a little uncomfortable at first, stiffening when Henry had ignored his offered handshake and gave him a big hug in greeting, and watching the burly man curl in on himself in the small plastic chair in the circle was a little heart breaking.</p><p>But as the parents in the group began to eagerly brag about their queer kids and get righteously angry at coaches and teachers that refused to respect pronouns, Darryl seemed to pick up the atmosphere and joined in with sharing Grant’s baby pictures and crowing over how good he was at soccer, and how proud he was of him no matter who he chose to love. At the end of the meeting he insisted on shaking everyone’s hand as well.</p><p>Henry thought it was a little overbearing, but ultimately endearing, and after the meeting when Darryl had awkwardly asked if Henry wanted to go with him to a little British pub for a beer, he had agreed without even checking to make sure they had vegan options before he got there.</p><p>They didn’t, really, but Henry managed to get a Cobb salad without any meat or cheese and sat transfixed while Darryl downed six beers, talked about soccer while pointing excitedly at the television screen for two hours, and then admitted that his son was with his mom that night and he was glad Henry was there because he hated drinking alone and said he thought Henry was really nice and… well, Henry had been having a few himself.</p><p>They ended up making out in the alley beside the pub for about ten minutes before Darryl seemed to realise what he was doing and started apologizing. They’d parted awkwardly and gone home separately, but Henry would be darned if he let things end like that. So as soon as he got home, he got Mercedes’s help to draft a non-typo-laden message to Darryl telling him that there was nothing to apologize for, he was fine just being friends if that’s what Darryl wanted, but if he wanted to try going to a coffee shop just the two of them on Thursday he’d be more than happy to see where this could lead them.</p><p>He hadn’t gotten a response until Wednesday night, and the response was just a simple, <em>‘What coffee shop?’</em> but when Henry saw it his face lit up so much that Mercedes didn’t even have to ask.</p><p>            And so, late Thursday afternoon, both Henry and Mercedes were running around the bedroom trying to get ready for their respective dates. Mercedes finished first, seeing as she already had clocked the particular style that Carol was partial to and it was a mere matter of catering to it. Henry was having a harder time as he laid out three different shirts, one with pineapple print, one purple, and one white, and was absolutely agonizing over which to pick.</p><p>            “Henry, dear, you’re overthinking again. If he’s right for you, it won’t matter what you wear. It’s just a coffee date, and even then he doesn’t seem sure if he wants it to be more. Which shop were you going to, again?”</p><p>            “Panera Bread, it’s not far from where Darryl lives,” Henry said quickly as he finally grabbed the purple button up. At least it would help him stand out, right? He pulled it on and Mercedes helped him do up the top two buttons and tucked his favourite woven handkerchief into his pant pocket.</p><p>            “There. Now, go and get that man!”</p><p>            Henry grinned and kissed his wife on the nose. Had he mentioned how much he loved her?</p><p>*</p><p>            Henry had met Darryl in front of Panera Bread, but even as Darryl half-jogged toward him Henry could see his face falling into confusion.</p><p>            “It’s closed?” Darryl asked when he stopped in front of Henry, looking at the sign in the window with a dubious expression.</p><p>            Henry nodded with a sighed. “Yeah, copy write violations apparently. Man, I hate it when that happens! Oh well, there’s another place near here. It’s not all vegan but it’s got vegan options, are you okay to walk for a bit?”</p><p>            “Oh yeah, sure,” Darryl had said, a light blush on his cheeks. Henry took a moment to appreciate that, even though Darryl had at no point openly admitted that this was a date, he had clearly cleaned himself up a bit for the event. He… was also wearing a purple shirt.</p><p>            “Twins!” Henry said suddenly, a bit too loud. Darryl stared at him in confusion until Henry started frantically pointing between his shirt and Darryl’s, and when he noticed the burly man’s mouth dropped open and he laughed in pure delight.</p><p>            “No way! It’s like we’re on a sports team!” They both broke out into giggles and on the way to Henry’s second choice coffee shop they started talking about their sons and their soccer teams. As soon as they both realised with a start that their sons were all on the same team that was reason for another burst of excitement.</p><p>            The shop they entered had a very basic, soothing layout. Lots of deep browns with a little red here and there for variety. They had a number of African-inspired décor pieces on the walls, and Henry really appreciated that sort of thing. Darryl seemed a little more uncertain about it, but when Henry asked what he thought he had shrugged and said “Coffee is coffee, right?”</p><p>            Not Henry’s pick of an ideal response, but there were worse crimes than an unrefined coffee pallet. Darryl seemed relaxed enough while making his order, though Henry could sense him tense when Henry stepped in to make his order after and paid for both of them before Darryl could even get his wallet out.</p><p>            “Oh, uh, I could’ve paid. I-I mean, should’ve I, uh…”</p><p>            Henry took pity on him and patted his shoulder gently. “You’ll get it next time, right big guy?”</p><p>            “Yeah, obviously!” He was visibly relieved, and Henry took their number so they could sit and wait for their drinks. They sat across from each other at a table for four in the middle of the room, Henry facing the door. After a moment of silence, Darryl finally blurted out a question that had clearly been on his mind.</p><p>            “So your wife… she’s really okay with this?”</p><p>            “Of course!” Henry said with a smile, “Mercedes is amazing, has been since the day we met! You know, she saved my life, and helped me when I had no one. And she runs the classical music station in San Dimas! It’s probably my second favourite thing to listen to after my favourite radio station, the sound of the wind!”</p><p>“The what?”</p><p>Henry was too wrapped up in talking about his wife to address Darryl’s confusion. “I’m lucky to have her, she’s so good with the boys, and so understanding. When she saw I was feeling down with her going on her Thursday date nights with Carol, she told me I should look for someone to spend them with and well, I suppose I did.” Henry flushed as he looked shyly at his companion. The coy look dissolved when he saw the twist of pain on his face, however. “Uh, are you okay?”</p><p>“No, sorry, it’s just… that’s my ex-wife’s name.”</p><p>“Carol?”</p><p>“Y-yeah…”</p><p>“Oh… unfortunate coincidence.” Henry shuffled his feet under the table and then reached out with his hands to snag one of Darryl’s. The other man looked down at their joined hands with a small amount of alarm, but Henry pushed on anyway. “Listen, if you ever want to talk about anything, don’t you hesitate for a minute! I am more than happy to talk to you about any of your feelings at any time. About your son, or you, or your ex-wife, or anything! Don’t think you have to hide anything from ol’ Henry, okay?”</p><p>“I uh, c-can I ask you something else?”</p><p>“Of course!”</p><p>Darryl kept staring at their joined hands as he spoke in a hesitant voice. “Did you… did you think maybe… I mean, you’re looking to hook up, right?” he said that quickly, “And I’m not… uninterested. You’re… nice looking and… But I just, I think I need more time, there’s a lot… and I’ve never, not with anyone except Carol, so it’s hard…”</p><p>Now they were getting somewhere, and Henry opened his mouth happily to reassure Darryl he would go at whatever pace made Darryl most comfortable when the bell above the coffee shop door chimed and Henry’s eyes darted toward it.</p><p>“Oh, it’s Mercedes!” Henry said excitedly, already half-standing in his seat to wave at his wife. “Mercedes! Hi! Did you know Panera Bread is closed? Isn’t that terrible? I’m gonna miss their biscotti. And this is Darryl! From the app, remember?”</p><p>“Henry!” Mercedes greeted, just as excited. Henry barely took note of the lady who was following her as Mercedes practically flew to her husband out of instinct and the two shared a delighted, chaste kiss on either cheek. “It’s wonderful to see you out, but Panera Bread is <em>closed</em>? That’s terrible my love, that’s… oh, and I specifically took Carol here so we wouldn’t disturb you and your date. I’m so sorry, Darryl!” Mercedes turned to apologize to the man still seated, but Darryl wasn’t looking at her. He was looking behind her with a look of sheer terror in his eyes.</p><p>Mercedes looked behind her at her girlfriend, and found Carol looking, if not terrified, at least shocked. However, she also recovered sooner than Darryl did and nearly tucked her greying hair behind her ear as she turned resolutely to Henry with a tight smile and a hand held out for a firm handshake.</p><p>“Hello, Henry. I suppose it’s about time we meant. Tell me, how long have you been dating my ex-husband?”</p><p>            Mercedes assured Henry that the look on his face in that moment was priceless, though Henry would argue Mercedes’ was just as much so.</p><p>            “Uh, not long,” Henry said, eyes darting down to Darryl. “I swear I had no idea about this.”</p><p>            “Nor did I,” Mercedes assured, hands held out in a placating gesture.</p><p>            “Hi, Carol,” Darryl mumbled.</p><p>            “Hi, Darryl,” Carol’s voice was clipped. “Well? Are you going to ask us to sit with you, or not? May as well make this a double date since we’re all here.”</p><p>            “Uh, by all means!” Henry said, quickly sitting back down across from Darryl. Mercedes quickly took up the seat next to Darryl, with Carol sitting next to Henry.</p><p>            The four of them stared at each other in silence for a minute before it got to Henry. He plastered on a giant smile.</p><p>            “Well, this is fun! All of us here… having a date… fun!”</p><p>            “Yay!” Mercedes said quietly, looking at Carol with sweat on her brow. Silence continued and Mercedes cleared her throat. “So, uh, h-how are you liking your coffee, Darryl?”</p><p>            “It’s good,” Darryl said quietly, looking resolutely down at his mug and not making eye contact with anyone anymore.</p><p>            Carol made a soft exhale and then shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t… I shouldn’t’ve just… I made it weird, didn’t I? Darryl, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have imposed.”</p><p>            “No it’s okay!” Darryl said quickly, finally looking up at his ex-wife with a start. “I shouldn’t have… been… here…”</p><p>            Carol sighed and pushed her glasses up on her nose, shaking her head again. “No, you have every right to be here. I just panicked and tried to control the situation and I should’ve… we should go, maybe?”</p><p>            Mercedes made to nod, and Henry felt a touch of relief until Darryl shook his head sharply.</p><p>            “No, no don’t- h-how’ve you been doing? We haven’t really spoken much aside from talking about Grant. S-so you’re dating Henry’s wife, now? Heh, twins?” Darryl waved toward Henry, and Carol stared at him for a moment.</p><p>            Then she started giggling.</p><p>            Tension broken, Carol offered to buy everyone a round of coffees and a light conversation mostly between Darryl and Carol catching each other up on recent events in their lives ensued.</p><p>            “Grant said you had made a new friend, he didn’t say you were-”</p><p>            “I didn’t tell him! I mean, I probably will at some point, but it’s an unusual situation…”</p><p>            “I’ll be ready when you are to introduce us,” Mercedes reassured, holding Carol’s hand above the table.</p><p>            Darryl was watching their hands so carefully that he didn’t notice Henry’s hand brushing his beneath the table until it caught hold of his own. Darryl looked at Henry and blushed even before Carol looked at them again.</p><p>            “And Darryl, how long have you and Henry…?”</p><p>            “Just… first date?” Darryl said the last word strangely, as though trying out the taste of it. Henry squeezed his hand under the table as a reward.</p><p>            “Oh what, really?” Carol glanced between him and Henry and then her face was bright red as well. “Aw shit, I really fucked this up, huh?”</p><p>            “No, it’s nice. Haven’t gotten to catch up and… and I mean, there’s always next Thursday,” Darryl said, squeezing Henry’s hand back.</p><p>            “Always next Thursday indeed,” Mercedes grinned, “For now though, Carol and I were going to go mini-golfing after our coffee! Did you want to join us?”</p><p>             In an hour, Henry and Mercedes would learn that their newfound partners shared the most horrific competitive streak they had ever seen and three broken golf-clubs and a busted windmill later they were banned from San Dimas Putt Putt for life.</p><p>            But for now, the four enjoyed their coffee in a companionable atmosphere.</p>
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